Challenges

Toastmaster Karen Alexander dealt with the theme of challenges, encouraging members to empathize with the challenges that others were up against. Don Emon as joke master took on the challenge of positioning, placing his hand three times on the "scruples" sign to accentuate its meaning, the word of the day from Judy Groff. Other members of the Eyes and Ears team included Grammarian, Jeanne Resen; Ah Counter,  Don Groff (shadowed by Randy Dunn); Timer, Melinda Lowrance (shadowed by Vicki Balson).

Toastmaster Karen Alexander related challenges to anniversaries of a number of incidents this week, such as the shootings at the high school in Columbine, CO, at the Boston Marathon, as well as the Oklahoma City bombing.

She introduced Michael Thompson, who spoke about persistence.  He noted how a famous Winston Churchill quote served him throughout his life and how he was inspired to become a lawyer.  He ended by referencing an inspiring quote from an Emily Dickinson poem.

Sally Jones’ speech about sowing seeds explained the variety of missionary information that the United Methodist Women send to African countries.  Sally described her role in this process and punctuated her speech with a PowerPoint presentation showing photos of the people in Africa who received books for their school, and the volunteers who assembled the 160 boxes of books to ship.

Table topics:   Ron called on Vicki to answer the question: “Tell us about something exciting that’s happened to you recently.”   She described her son’s wedding over the weekend.

Randy’s question was “Tell us something that is important to you.”  He cited his new interest in reading, how it has enhanced his life, and how he challenges himself to read more books each year.

Judy evaluated Michael’s speech.  She praised his growth as a speaker since joining Toastmasters, and highlighted what she enjoyed in his speech.  Her grow was to move the lectern and moving more on the front staging area as he speaks and making his gestures more deliberate.

Betty evaluated Sally’s speech.  She praised Sally’s use of photos in her presentation.  She noted how this was the first use of a power point in our new location and how this was effective to be on the audience's left side. For a grow she relied on an audience member to suggest just a bit more practice with the opening slides.

Stan gave the General and TT evaluation.  Stan described how the theme for the meeting, challenges, also relates to how we adapt to our new location.  He complimented the new members on their table topic speeches, Susann's rising to the challenge of locating the new member induction form, and Don E on his scruples to not reveal too much in his joke.

Judy introduced the slate of officers for the 2019 year:

President: Susann Swan

VP Education: Karen Alexander

VP Membership: Caitlin Owens

VP Public Relations: Karla Reese

Treasurer: Don Groff

Secretary: Stan Coss

Sergeant at Arms:   Melinda Lowrance

Members may also make nominate from the floor for these offices before the election at the next meeting.

Members Present: Judy Groff, Don Groff, Don Emon, Jeanne Resen, Carol Kitchen (newly joining), Ron Climer, Michael Thompson, Hoyt Griffith, Sally Jones, Melinda Lowrance, Randy Dunn (newly joining), Stan Coss, Betty McCallister, Vicki Balson, Karen Alexander

Guests: Don Emon's daughter, Beth; Sally Jones's husband, Jim.